Myth vs. Fact: The Definition of Professional Degrees

President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the Act) placed commonsense limits on federal student loans for graduate degrees. These loan limits will help drive down the cost of graduate programs and reduce the debt students have to take out. Graduate students received more than half of all new federal student loans originated in recent years, and graduate student loans now make up half of the outstanding $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Under the Act, the agency is required to identify “professional degree” programs that will be eligible for higher federal lending limits. A negotiating committee convened by the agency has proposed a consensus definition that designates Medicine (M.D.), Dentistry (D.D.S./D.M.D.), Law (L.L.B./J.D.), and several other high-cost programs as eligible for a $200,000 borrowing limit. Students who pursue a degree in other graduate or doctoral programs would be capped at $100,000 in federal loans. Undergraduate students are generally not affected by the new lending limits. Certain progressive voices have been fear mongering about the Department of Education supposedly excluding nursing degrees from being eligible for graduate student loans. This is misinformation. This fact sheet sets the record straight regarding the proposed treatment of nursing programs under new lending limits established by the Act. Myth: The Trump Administration does not view nurses as professionals because they are not classified as a “professional degree.” Fact: The definition of a “professional degree” is an internal definition used by the Department to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits, not a value judgement about the importance of programs. It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not. Myth: Nurses will have a harder time securing federal student loans for their programs and this would contribute to the nationwide nursing shortage. Fact: Department of Education data indicates that 95% of nursing students borrow below the annual loan limit and therefore are not affected by the new caps. Further, placing a cap on loans will push the remaining graduate nursing programs to reduce their program costs, ensuring that nurses will not be saddled with unmanageable student loan debt. It is important to remember that the loan limits are limited to graduate programs and have no impact on undergraduate nursing programs, including four-year bachelor’s of science in nursing degrees and two-year associate’s degrees in nursing. 80% of the nursing workforce does not have a graduate degree. Myth: The Department of Education made this decision to exclude nurses unilaterally. Fact: The Department solicited feedback from the public and hosted a negotiated rulemaking committee, which included a broad range of higher education stakeholders, to regulate on changes to loan limits included in the Act. The public will have another opportunity to weigh in on this issue as the Department finalizes the rule early next year. The Department of Education has not published a proposed or final rule defining professional student yet. Because the negotiated rulemaking committee unanimously agreed to a proposed definition for “professional student” for increased loan limits, among other things, the Department is required to publish the agreed upon language in its proposed rule. But the Department has not prejudged the rulemaking process and may make changes in response to public comments. Myth: Because of these changes, the price of tuition will go up. Fact: Since 2007, graduate and professional students have been able to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. This has allowed colleges and universities to dramatically increase tuition rates, even for credentials with modest earnings potential, which has saddled too many borrowers with debts they find difficult to repay. The Act’s annual federal loan caps are already reining in inflated prices at graduate programs across the country.